Jade is sooooo unlucky everytime we go on a vacation. Something bad always happens to her. Not really bad, but something not so good.

The first time it happpened was when we went to Bicol. On the night before we were supposed to go home, ants bit her in her sleep. She woke up crying so loud. When we opened the light, her right eye was almost swollen shut by an ant bite. She was sobbing in the plane on the way home, and was even crying a little bit during the cab ride from the airport. When we got home though, she was her usual chipper self, albeit with a swollen eye.

The second time was our trip to Baguio this year, and this one had no explanation whatsoever. Around our second night I noticed that her upper lip looked a bit swollen. Since she was sleeping face down, we turned her over, and GAAAAAHHH!!! it WAS swollen. Though this time there wasn't any pain of any kind. We thought it was an allergic reaction to strawberries, but when we fed her strawberries when we got back home (just to be sure), no swelling happened. Weird.

The most recent mishap was this past 3-day weekend. We were in Shangri-La Edsa Plaza, enjoying a nice swim with her cousins. After swimming, we went up to the room. She was taking a bath with Kuki when I heard a loud "BAM!" Kuki called out to me and there was Jade, crying with blood spilling from her lip. Being the "malikot" girl that she is, she was reaching for a piece of soap when she slipped and hit her mouth on the bathtub ledge. We rushed her to the emergency room, and thank God she didn't need any stitches. So now her lower lip is busted.

Friday, November 25, 2005

I was reading Vic J. Poblete's DEVIL CAR blog, and he mentioned that Ollie Roble Samaniego had a big hand in getting that particular novel approved. He was the one who believed and fought for the Devil Car concept when no one else did.

Looking back on my own komiks career during the 80s, Ollie WAS the one who gave me my first big break.

I was barely in high school during that time (I was 13), and I was an avid reader of the horror anthology HOLIDAY KOMIKS, which was edited by the aforementioned Mr. Samaniego. I typed up a story, entitled "The Bounty Hunters," put it in an envelope, and mailed it to the address written on the indicia of Holiday Komiks.

After a few months, summer vacation rolled in. I started to study komiks illustration (and illustration in general) under Hal Santiago. I barely started training when my family had to go the the province for our annual vacation stint there. My cousins in the province told me that they read my story. I didn't even remember that I had sent a story in the first place! We managed to track down that particular issue of Holiday Komiks, and lo and behold... there it was... illustrated by Ernel P. Remos, another Hal Santiago student. I was ecstatic!

Upon getting back to Metro Manila, I called up Graphic Arts Service, Inc, or GASI (the publishing house), and they told me that I had a cash voucher there waiting for me, but that I had to hurry and get it because it's gonna expire in a few weeks. So I did, and it amounted to 40 pesos (10 pesos per page was the standard rate). I couldn't believe it. I'm a komiks writer! And hey, 40 pesos back then would be equivalent to around 500 bucks nowadays.

That time of my young life was the best time for me. I was getting trained by one of the best illustrators in the local scene, and at the same time had a published story. Some time after, Mang Hal told us that there's another horror title in the works, SHOCKER, being edited by another young editor, Cely Barria (who I think was the "crush ng bayan" in GASI). I submitted another story, and it was approved! It came out in Shocker's first issue, and it was Cely who gave me my first break as an illustrator, too.

During those days, Tuesdays and Thursdays were the days when freelancers flocked to GASI, hoping to get story assignments from editors. By then, the school year had started, and my only time to go to GASI was on Saturdays. Cely was kind enough to let me pass my scripts and illustrations on that day. And since I didn't get any scripts from other writers (there were no more scripts on Saturdays, since they've all been given out by then), Cely allowed me to draw my own stories, most of the time I'd give the story to her fully-illustrated aleady.

I didn't get to work much for Ollie, the editor who was kind enough to approve a story by an unknown writer, but I guess he saw some merit in that first story. I wrote and drew just one more short story for Holiday, and he published it, although personally I didn't think the art was worth publishing. It was one of my worst works.

So, thanks to Ollie Roble Samaniego, for giving me a chance. Thanks to Cely Cruz Barria, who accepted my work even though I wasn't adhering to the normal schedules that was allowable to freelancers.

And Thanks to Hal Santiago, for showing me the ropes, and being a great teacher and friend.

And I failed to mention my father, who's friends in the komiks biz led us to getting acquainted with Mang Hal. Without my father and his support of my love for komiks, none of this would have happened. Thanks, Pa!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Friday, November 18, 2005

Today's Blog Filler brings you a practical tip... you can test if it works or not...

LOCKED YOUR KEYS in your car ??????

If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on your cell phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the other person at your home press the unlock button of your key fob (clicker), holding it near the phone on their end. Your car doors will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.

Distance is no object you could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out, and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!

Mike's Note: I locked the car had my youngest daughter call me while I was far away from the car. I clicked "open" into the phone and I could hear the car doors unlock through her cell phone. My daughter confirmed that sure enough the doors opened.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Eddie Guerrero's wife Vickie has spoken to wwe.com about the cause of her husband's death...

“It was heart failure. It was from his past – the drinking and the drug abuse. They found signs of heart disease. She (the examiner) said that the blood vessels were very worn and narrow, and that just showed all the abuse from the scheduling of work and his past. And Eddie just worked out like crazy all the time. It made his heart grow bigger and work harder and the vessels were getting smaller, and that’s what caused the heart failure. He went into a deep sleep.

As soon as they saw his heart, they saw the lining of his heart already had the heart disease. There was no trauma, and Eddie hadn’t hurt himself in any way. It answered a lot of questions. I knew Eddie wasn’t feeling very good for the last week. He was home and kept saying he wasn’t feeling good and we thought it was just “road tired.” So we thought he just had to rest. It answered a lot of my questions, too, because he was just so exhausted. She said it was normal because the heart was working so hard.

When he didn’t call me last night and the night before I knew it was for real, because he would call me every night. I miss his phone calls. I cried through the whole thing (last night).

I loved his laugh. His laugh was the best.

We just celebrated his four-year sobriety last Thursday. We just thought we had life by the handful. We thought we had it all figured out. He worked so hard to make a better life for us.

I’m just overwhelmed by how people are coming out. It’s touched my heart a lot.

Everybody was just in awe last night in how beautifully everything was put together.

All my life was wrestling. All he did was take care of them and live for that. And I don’t know what to do now.”

Eddie certainly was one of the best. He can make the most mediocre wrestler look good. I don't think I recall seeing an Eddie Guerrero match that bored me. Fans can leave messages fo his family on Eddie Guerrero's official website, eddicts.com.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

From the Nautilus Comics mailing list:

Siglo: Passion is the full-color graphic novel follow-up to the National Book Award-winning Siglo: Freedom, and puts together a roster of award-winning writers and artists with some of the country’s most promising new talents. Each of the stories in this long-awaited anthology explores different forms of passion and how they affect the lives of people – for better, or for worse.

RESERVE YOUR COPY AT FULLY BOOKED AND COMIC QUEST AND GET HUGE DISCOUNTS PLUS AN INVITE TO THE GRAND LAUNCH ON DECEMBER 10.

Reserve your copy of the limited edition full-color Siglo: Passion now to avail of the SPECIAL PRE-ORDER DISCOUNT (more than 40% off the regular price!), and an exclusive invite to the grand launch on December 10, 2005 at Fully Booked Promenade, Greenhills!

Note that this edition of Siglo: Passion will be in full-color, the first full-color graphic novel in the country, and will be limited to only two thousand (2000) copies. This limited edition of the book will be the only full-color edition that will ever be released in the country and will not be reprinted.

Here’s how:

1. Visit any Fully Booked or Comic Quest branch and pay the pre-order discount of Php500 (from the original SRP of Php850) at the counter.

2. You will be given a ticket stub that will also serve as your invite to the Siglo: Passion grand launch at Fully Booked Promenade on December 10, 2005. Claim your copies of the book during the launch to get free limited edition Siglo postcards from Nautilus Comics.

3. You may also claim your copies of the book after the launch, at the Fully Booked or Comic Quest outlet where you made the reservation.

4. For more information, you may also inquire via e-mail to letters@nautiluscomics.com.

Monday, November 14, 2005

In a bit of a shocking news, Pro wrestler Eddie Guerrero has passed away. From Prowrestling.com...

"Eddie Guerrero was found this morning with his toothbrush in his mouth on the bathroom floor. He apparently died while brushing his teeth. The belief among those within WWE is that he had a heart failure. PWTorch.com reports that shortly after Guerrero's body was removed from the room, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Chavo Guerrero all visited the hotel room to say their final goodbyes. Many WWE staffers were visibly shaken by this as they left the hotel and headed for the arena."

But don't get me wrong, this is an enjoyable thing to watch. Especially hilarious was the segment when they featured the Warrior's soliloquys and interviews. Most of the time you couldn't understand what he was saying. It's not that what he was saying was garbled (like Stallone), it was just that the words he was saying just didn't make sense. I laughed out loud especially when he was talking and he was holding the Championship Belt in front of his face, so you couldn't see him talking.

Being a kid of the 80s, thinking back now, I do remember a few times when I watched the Warrior's interviews and was left with a dumbfounded look on my face. I was like "What the hell did he just say??!?!" (not in that way of course, being a kid, but you get the idea).

Most of the old school guys interviewed had both good and bad things to say, but the one guy who really didn't have any kind words for the Warrior was Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. I guess he genuinely hated the guy, which is a bit interesting since he'd had a hand in managing most of the Warrior's opponents.

I would have liked to have heard Rick Rude's thoughts, since he's the one opponent I always associate with the warrior. Sadly, he's gone now, so...

Anyway...

I found Edge to be a bit of a hypocrite, since he slammed the Warrior quite a bit (God, I'm getting tired of having to type "the Warrior" over and over again), but when he was doing a promo for the Wrestlemania X8 DVD, he was recalling how excited he was when he watched the Hogan/Warrior match at Wrestlemania VI. I guess he needs to get on Vince's good side, since he still dreams of one day becoming WWE Champ.

The most honest opinions I've seen so far are those coming from Chris Jericho and Christian, who were just fans during the Warrior's heyday.

Didn't the Warrior have any friends in the locker room at all? it seems most of the old guys they interviewed had something bad to say. Maybe they just didn't bother to track down some of the guys who got along with him.

All in all, watch this if you grew up in the 80s watching wrestling. It's a nice trip down memory lane, and hilarious to boot.

I've read rumors in the internet that Ultimate Warrior is palnning on releasing his own DVD, but I doubt it's gonna be as funny as this one.

Oh, and if you want both sides of the story, there's also an Ultimate Warrior Shoot Interview video available. I wanted to get it, but put it off for another time since it was basically just one long interview, with no bonus matches at all. I guess since WWE owns all the footage of the Warrior's matches, it would be pretty hard to get their permission.